This much became clear when they aggressively went on a recruiting path that saw them land QB Peyton Manning and trade Tebow soon after.

However, they were looking to move Tebow even before they had Manning locked up. This bit of information comes to us via Tania Ganguli of The Florida Times-Union:

Khan, who had tried to buy the St. Louis Rams before he purchased the Jaguars, was familiar with the Broncos' ownership and kept close tabs on Tebow’s situation. The Broncos began quietly shopping the quarterback at the NFL scouting combine in February.

This news is not a big shock. While Tebow earned a legion of fans for his string of dramatic fourth-quarter comebacks and playoff victory, the Broncos' brass never seemed sold on Tebow as an NFL QB.

As far as being the Broncos' starting QB, the biggest endorsement Tebow received from his bosses came from John Elway in his press conference once the Broncos' season had concluded. The endorsement was tepid at best.

Elway wouldn't go any further than saying Tebow had earned the right to enter training camp as the starter.

And even at that, he added the following caveat. Here is Elway, as quoted by Pro Football Talk's Greg Rosenthal:

The passing game wasn’t where we wanted it to be. Those are the strides we have to make...we know Timmy will work his tail off.

It is clear that Denver was going to do everything they could to get a new QB under center for this season.